1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to a multi-media content creation systems, methods and program products. More particularly, the invention relates to textual based authoring systems, methods and program products for creating and managing editable Rich Media Content for application in ebusiness.
2. Background Discussion
Ser. No. 09/268,537 entitled “Framework for Progressive Hierarchical and Adaptive Delivery of Rich Media Presentations and Associated Meta”, filed Mar. 12, 1999 (SE9-98-030), assigned to the assignee as that of present invention and fully incorporated herein by reference, describes a single, easy to use authoring environment, known as HotMedia, for incorporating Rich Media in an ebusiness application. HotMedia lets an author create Rich Media Content, such as video, streaming audio synchronized with images, 3D, animations, panoramas in a single file that can be easily added to a web page. For fast delivery of Rich Media Content on a network, the data contained in a Rich Media file must be in a binary format. However, with a binary format, it is difficult for end users to understand the file structure, add new content or modify the content stored in the file outside the authoring tool. The binary specification also restricts data interchange among applications; open formats and definitions for expansion, and third party tool development. What is needed in the art is a straightforward and easy to understand means of creating and managing Rich Media Content for e-business applications. More specifically, a Rich Media Content creation system and method should include an authoring tool having a vocabulary that defines a media element and specifies the relations between media element; easily created and editable file contents, and enable various raw or compressed media components to be composed using any text editor. The file created by the authoring tool should be ideal for scripting; third party tools; expressing authoring templates; automatic and network authoring processes; multi-stage flow authoring and easy injection of non media (business) information into the file.